This invention pertains to personal computers an particularly, to a battery operated personal computer having temperature and humidity environmental sensors and means for suspending the operation of the computer in the event that ambient temperature or humidity parameters exceed predetermined limits.
Most personal computers have elements that are sensitive to extreme temperatures and excessive humidity, and damage to these elements can result if these environmental parameters exceed certain limits. For example, high temperatures can be detrimental to a hard disk drive by reducing relative humidity, and low relative humidity causes excessive disk media wear. For floppy disk drive operation, high temperatures can cause deformation of the diskette jacket, which may prevent the diskette media from spinning. Low temperatures can result in the condensation of moisture in a hard disk drive, which causes accelerated wear of the disk media at the "landing zone" of the head. In floppy disk drives low temperatures cause reduced head loading times, which may cause read/write errors. High relative humidity, on the other hand, only effects the operation of a hard disk drive if the disk drive is not a sealed unit. If the hard disk drive is not sealed, high relative humidity causes condensation, which, as discussed above, causes accelerated media wear in the landing zone. For floppy disk drives, high relative humidity reduces drive motor torque which, in turn, may prevent the motor from spinning.
This sensitivity of the hard disk drive and floppy disk drive to environmental factors is generally not a significant issue with most AC powered personal computers, which are typically operated in an office or home wherein environmental conditions are usually regulated. Because of their mobility however, battery operated portable personal computers are frequently operated in "hostile" environments, wherein ambient temperature and humidity factors may exceed the manufacturers recommended operating ranges.
In addition, battery operated portable personal computers include additional elements that are sensitive to environmental conditions. For example, the batteries and the liquid crystal displays (LCD's) typically used in these computers can be damaged when environmental temperatures exceed certain limits. Furthermore, LCD's have a low temperature limit beyond which they will not operate. Accordingly, the invention described below provides a means for suspending the operation of a personal computer when environmental conditions exceed certain limits, and for resuming computer operations when these environmental conditions return within safe limits.